Architecture

Shortlisted schemes from the 1921 competition to design Victoria’s Shrine of Remembrance have been revealed to the public in a new exhibition, which commemorates the memorial’s ninetieth anniversary.
Eighty-three proposals were submitted in the competition to design a place where Victorians could gather and pay respects to casualties of what is now called the First World War. The competition was open to Australasians and British subjects living in Australia, and it ran in two stages: a call for entries, and a six-project shortlist.
Designing Remembrance: Alternate visions for Victoria’s war memorial provides a glimpse into what the memorial might have looked like if Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop’s design had not been the winning scheme.

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The development of the exhibition involved a collaborative effort between Shrine of Remembrance curator Neil Sharkey and historians Katti William and Laura Carroll, with consultation from University of Melbourne School of Design professor and chair of architecture Philip Goad.
Through extensive searches of historical competition records in Melbourne and Canberra, submissions and design statements, the team managed to track down approximately 16 entries. And while the exhibition primarily revolves around the six finalists, it is supplemented by some of these entries: those that represent unique interpretations of the brief.
Acquiring the records proved to be quite challenging, as a fire at the Melbourne Town Hall destroyed many entries. Despite this setback, the exhibition team successfully dug out a published article from Art in Australia, which featured at least one image of each shortlisted scheme. The team then extracted the depictions from the article for the exhibition.
Sharkey said the display offers insight into the collective mind of a post-war community grappling with how to appropriately honour a legacy of service and sacrifice. “The hand-drawn plans, rendered in pencil and watercolour, are remarkable, showing the plazas, pylons and sculptures that could have stood where the Shrine now stands,” he said.
Most of the submissions were either in a Classical or Classical Revivalist architectural style, drawing inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman architecture.
Among the entries was a distinct design by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin with Australian architect Eric Nicholls. The submitted design was in the Prairie School style of architecture, common in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The building form, which Sharkey likened to a “Hindu shrine or temple,” featured a facade with layered modules, which could be reduced or added to depending on budget. Despite being a fascinating response to the brief, the scheme was not shortlisted.
The exhibition prompts visitors to question whether a war memorial should be grand and noticeable or restrained and private. It encourages attendees to consider the delicacy and sensitivity of the events that call for the creation of such a place, along with the varied requirements that such a space should fulfil.

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The shrine that was built was influenced by the design of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus in Turkey. The interior was designed to be a private, contemplative space for reflection and the laying of the wreath. In contrast, William Lucas’s design, which came in second place, was underpinned by an entirely different ideology. Lucas’s scheme features a large, open ampitheatre, as he felt strongly that the wreath-laying ceremony should be visible to all.
“When Lucas didn’t win, he really tore into the design of the shrine,” explained Sharkey. “He accused the winning architects of plagiarising the mausoleum. […] Because he had made this accusation, he was brought before the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects in a sort of disciplinary hearing and he was expelled from their organisation.
“For the exhibition, we actually have the documents from this disciplinary hearing on display.”
Designing Remembrance: Alternate visions for Victoria’s war memorial will take place from 13 August 2024 until July 2025 at the Shrine of Remembrance in Kings Domain, Melbourne. More

The Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence on Yorta Yorta Country in Shepparton opened on 7 August 2024 with a ceremony embracing the education, sport and public gathering space as a significant hub for learning, community engagement and cultural pride.
A Welcome to Country preceded speeches from deputy chair of all-First Peoples board Munarra Limited Uncle Paul Briggs and Minister for Treaty and First Peoples the Natalie Hutchins.
“The Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence and the Rumbalara Football Netball Club are so unique, they are nation leading. I am excited and optimistic about this investment’s potential to deliver the future to Yorta Yorta and other First Nations including the people of south-eastern Australia,” said Uncle Briggs.
Upgrades to the Rumbalara Football and Netball Club and creation of a new community and academic building followed a co-design process between Munarra Limited, ARM Architecture and landscape architect Bush Projects.
Evoking the Aboriginal flag when viewed from above, the new building features a central circular courtyard, indoor/outdoor learning verandah and firepit – all developed in close collaboration with stakeholders.
The new structure also incorporates the Nanyak Wall, a photographic representation of the community’s history that extends into the landscape and connects to the existing club site.
Club upgrades include new netball facilities, renovated clubrooms and a unifying canopy in the Rumbalara logo’s colours to reinforce community identity.
Munarra Limited oversaw the project and will manage the future operations of the centre as a place of learning, cultural celebration and community gathering. More

The Acticity Centre for Dance and Movement-based Arts in Hungary by Gall and Associates (Gall és Társai Építésziroda) has won the People’s Choice Award in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2024 International Chapter Architecture Awards.
The international awards program honours exceptional buildings that are designed by Australian architects but situated overseas.
The building, a 120-year-old Children’s Hospital, had been vacant since 1995. In 2023, the European Capital of Culture in Veszprém decided to repurpose and reactivate the infrastructure to serve the needs of the community as a facility for movement and dance for all ages.

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The former hospital now accommodates flexible spaces for movement-based activities, such as ballet, wall-climbing and folk dancing. The building now directly interacts with its surrounding context, featuring a new outdoor urban piazza and landscaped areas.
The project also earned an Award for Public Architecture in the international awards program, with the project team applauded by the jury for reviving ”[…] a derelict but important brown field site, carefully knitting it back into the city fabric.”
“The architects took an uninspiring collection of buildings and addressed a complicated brief with rigorous aplomb. They confidently addressed many challenging issues, including urban design and connectivity, the creation of new public space, as well as heritage, restoration and sustainability,” commented the jury. “This is a fine example of placemaking and urban healing.”
To view the full list of 2024 International Chapter Award winners, visit here. More

Design concepts have been revealed for a Hassell-designed community building in Tanzania that would feature a structure 3D-printed from local earth.
The community centre is a component of a broader masterplan for Hope Village in Kibaha, Tanzania – a precinct that will include housing for 67 girls aged 3–18, spaces for childcare and skill development, and a 480-student school.
Clarke Hopkins Clarke is leading the village masterplan design in collaboration with Hassell, together with Australian charity One Heart Foundation.

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Hassell is leading the design of the new community centre. Available to local residents, the centre will contain an open area for cultural and community activities, as well as a kitchen, a bakery and storage space. It will be a hub for shared meals, performances, gatherings and educational programs.
The design brief called for a large, uninterrupted area that could accommodate versatile functions; as a result, a central steel beam will support a roof frame that resembles a draped blanket. Comprising short pieces of timber, the roof will further be supported by cladding made of readily available corrugated metal sheet panels.

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Sustainability is a key feature of the design. Walls will be 3D-printed from local earth, while sections of the roof structure will be crafted from locally sourced timber.
As both method and material, 3D-printed earth was selected for environmental benefits, which include being more energy efficient than sourcing off-site alternative materials. Rather than form a solid barrier, the walls will take shape as a series of interwoven layers, permitting ventilation and natural light to filter through.
Hassell’s head of design and innovation Xavier De Kestelier emphasised that creating physical mock-ups for testing – carried out on full-scale prototypes at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) campus in Barcelona, Spain – is a crucial part of the innovation process.
“We collaborated really early in the design process with IAAC. They are leading the research into 3D-printing with earth and were able to 3D-print a full-scale prototype at their fabrication lab in Barcelona so we could validate the technique of earth printing,” De Kestelier said.
The project has involved and will continue to involve local people and expertise, from conception to completion.
Construction on the first phase of the masterplan is anticipated to commence in 2025. More

The NSW government is preparing to commence construction on its first 3D-printed social housing property. The housing project is a part of a pilot program aimed at addressing the housing shortage and homelessness across the state.
The project involves the introduction of two new 3D-printed duplexes on a vacant block in Dubbo. The aim of the trial is to reduce building cost and construction time by 50 percent, providing housing availability and affordability.

The project construction is anticipated to be finished within a span of 16 weeks, a significant difference compared to the approximately 40 weeks needed for traditional construction methods.

Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson said the social housing project is the “first of its kind in the country.” She added that the outcome of this first project will play a crucial role in determining whether the construction method will be adopted for more social and affordable housing projects.
“Utilising modern methods of construction like this 3D printing technology is critically important to delivering social and affordable homes sooner, especially in regional and remote areas.”
In a statement issued by the NSW government, it emphasised a key advantage of using 3D printing in construction is that it produces significantly less waste. “The concrete mix uses eco-friendly, high-recycled materials to produce robust and energy-efficient homes with substantially reduced life cycle maintenance costs,” the statement reads.
“This revolutionary technology […] could form part of the solution to provide homes sooner for people who need them most.”
The homes will provide Aboriginal Housing Office tenants with a home. The project is an initiative of the NSW government, who is working in collaboration with Contour3D and Aboriginal Sustainable Homes.
Construction of the first 3D printed social housing project in New South Wales is expected to commence in late September 2024. More

The City of Hobart has unveiled its draft North Hobart Neighbourhood Plan, inviting public feedback on the twenty-year strategy for the future design and planning of North Hobart.
The draft neighbourhood plan extends on the North Hobart Place Vision Project (2019–2021), which engaged the community in identifying crucial areas requiring development. It proposes the activation of the High Street precinct; increased supply of diverse housing options, including social, affordable and medium-density housing; the introduction of a network of open spaces that connect people to Country; and improved public safety through more bus shelters, public transport options and cycling routes.
Additionally, the draft plan recommends that a North Hobart Oval Sports and Community Precinct Masterplan should be undertaken to investigate the future role of the North Hobart Oval and discern whether there are opportunities to create public open spaces on the site.
The draft plan emphasises that any new buildings should be well-designed and complementary to the existing character and heritage of North Hobart. It also highlights the need to prioritise sustainable design, along with the adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the plan is a critical step in ensuring North Hobart develops in a way that meets the needs of the community for generations to come.
“We are committed to creating a vibrant, inclusive, and well-designed urban area that offers affordable housing and enhanced public spaces,” Reynolds said.
“We value the input of our residents and businesses. Their feedback will help us refine the plan to better serve the community’s needs and aspirations.”
Feedback can be provided via the online portal until 31 August 2024. More

The Australia Pavilion exhibition for the Venice Architecture Biennale of 2023 Unsettling Queenstown makes its way to home soil for its first Australian appearance since the biennale.
The exhibition will be presented at Design Tasmania between 3 August and 8 September 2024.
Curated and developed by the Ali Gumillya Baker, Anthony Coupe, Emily Paech, Sarah Rhodes and Julian Worrall, the installation responded to the overall biennale theme “Laboratory of the Future,” set by curator Lesley Lokko. The exhibition explored concepts of decolonisation and regeneration, focusing on the “unsettling” of two Australian Queenstowns – one in Tasmania and the other in South Australia.
The creative directors explained the exhibition prompts viewers to cast their mind beyond the borders of Australia. “A place both specific and typical, there are Queenstowns all over the world, reflecting the global reach of British colonialism and the impact of its pattern of relations to land, nature and people.”
The display features a large suspended copper structure, two-dimensional paper elements and a multimedia (video and sound) component. The suspended structure dubbed “Belvedere Ghost” is a replica of the arched belvedere of the Empire Hotel, which was built in the year of Australia’s Federation in the copper-mining town of Queenstown, Tasmania. Two video works are also presented as part of the display, each created to convey a personal sense of place.
In his critique of Unsettling Queenstown, Donald Bates said of the multimedia aspect, “I hear a deeper, more connective narrative emerging, as personal stories and reminiscences give anecdotal flesh to the histories of our Queenstowns, laying bare the political, social and racial complexities of the past, present and future Queenstowns,” he said. More

An Aboriginal art fair, a public lecture on climatic architecture, and an exhibition displaying shortlisted designs from an Australian awards program are among the cultural events set to captivate this month.

Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair
The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair returns to Larrakia Country to celebrate traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, craft and culture. The four-day fair will present the works of more than 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Centres and 1500 Indigenous Australian artists and designers. It will provide an opportunity for individuals to admire and/or ethically acquire authentic First Nations artworks. Paintings, woven works, sculptures, ceramics, photography, lino prints, boab nut carvings, jewellery, and other crafted objects will be on display during the event. The fair will be held between 8 August and 11 August 2024.

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This Geelong-based exhibition presents the works of finalists from the inaugural 2023 Make Award, a biennial prize initiated by the Australian Design Centre that rewards innovation in contemporary Australian craft and design. The creations of thirty shortlisted makers and creators will be on display, their works vast and varied, with objects including ceramics, glass, furniture, metalwork, jewellery and textiles. The Make Award exhibition will run until 27 October 2024.

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Fold Fetish
Artist Anya Pesce continues her exploration of the acrylic material, polymethyl methacrylate, in a new exhibition featuring pieces that assume a draping form – much like suspended fabrics. Pesce produces her pieces in a factory setting. The flat acrylic sheets are heated to 170 degrees celsius and manipulated into works of art. The folded works both reveal and conceal, and while the often highly reflective surfaces are visually striking, it is the less obvious, shadowed under folds that invite a more intimate inspection. Works in this Sydney exhibition are positioned on walls and the floor. Fold Fetish will be presented until 17 August 2024.

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Climatic Architecture
On 27 August 2024, visiting Treseder Fellow and acclaimed Swiss architect Philippe Rahm will deliver a public lecture at the Melbourne School of Design on the future of designing with the elements to combat climate change. In the face of climate change, Rahm proposes resetting the discipline of architecture to focus on its intrinsic elements: air, light, heat, and humidity. Together, these elements can become design tools for shaping our built environment.

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